SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE CANÇADO TRINDADE

Transcription

1 523 SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE CANÇADO TRINDADE TABLE OF CONTENTS Paragraphs I. PROLEGOMENA 1-3 II. CONSIDERATIONS ON PRELIMINARYQUESTIONS OF JURISDICTION AND JUDICIAL PROPRIETY The Court s jurisdiction, with attention on the preponderant humanitarian aspects Alleged judicial discretion and the Court s duty to exercise its advisory function III. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE QUESTION PUT TO THE COURT IV. THE ADVENT OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE GROW- ING ATTENTION TO THE NEEDS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE PEOPLE OR THE POPULATION League of Nations: the mandates system United Nations: the trusteeship system International administration of territory The recurring concern with the people or the population V. BASIC CONSIDERATIONS OF HUMANITY IN THE TREATMENT OF PEOPLES UNDER THE LAW OF NATIONS Private law analogies The central position of peoples in the origins of the law of nations (droit des gens) The civitas maxima gentium in the vision of the founding fathers of the law of nations VI. THE CONTEMPORANEITY OF THE DROIT DES GENS :THE HUMAN- IST VISION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER The early judicial recognition of rights of human beings and of peoples The humanist legacy of past experiments to UN international administration of territory VII. THE CONCERN OF THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE WITH THE HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDY IN KOSOVO The Security Council s reiterated expressions of grave concern with the humanitarian tragedy in Kosovo

2 524 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) 2. The General Assembly s reiterated expressions of grave concern with the humanitarian tragedy in Kosovo The Economic and Social Council s reiterated expressions of grave concern with the humanitarian tragedy in Kosovo The Secretary-General s reiterated expressions of grave concern with the humanitarian tragedy in Kosovo General assessment VIII. EX INJURIA JUS NON ORITUR IX. CONDITIONS OF LIVING OF THE POPULATION IN KOSOVO (SINCE 1989): THE SUBMISSIONS ADDUCED IN THE PRESENT ADVISORY PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT Submissions during the written phase of proceedings Submissions during the oral phase of proceedings X. JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF THE ATROCITIES IN KOSOVO XI. FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE ATROCITIES IN KOSOVO: THE CENTRAL- ITY OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE XII. THE PEOPLE-CENTERED OUTLOOK IN CONTEMPORARY INTERNA- TIONAL LAW People or population and statehood revisited The principle of self-determination of peoples under prolonged adversity or systematic oppression XIII. PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, THE LAW OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE HUMANE ENDS OF THE STATE Territorial integrity in the framework of those humane ends The overcoming of the inter-state paradigm in international law The fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination The fundamental principle of humanity in the framework of the law of the United Nations XIV. TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE CONCEPTION OF THE INCIDENCE OF JUS COGENS XV. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: KOSOVO S INDEPENDENCE WITH UNITED NATIONS SUPERVISION

3 525 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) I. PROLEGOMENA 1. My vote is in favour of the adoption of the present Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, having concurred with the conclusions the Court has reached, set forth in the dispositif. As I have arrived at the same conclusions on the basis of a reasoning distinct from that of the Court, I feel obliged to lay on the records the foundations of my own personal position on the matter at issue. To that end, I begin by addressing the preliminary questions of jurisdiction and judicial propriety, with attention turned to the preponderant humanitarian aspects of the question put to the Court, and to its duty to exercise its advisory function, without attributing to so-called judicial discretion a dimension which it does not have. Next, I draw attention to the need to proceed to a most careful examination of the factual background and context of the question put to the Court by the United Nations General Assembly. 2. My following line of reflections is directed to the advent of international organizations and the recurring and growing attention dispensed to the needs and aspirations of the people or the population (in the mandates system under the League of Nations, in the trusteeship system under the United Nations, and in contemporary United Nations experiments of international territorial administration). My next set of considerations (in Parts V and VI of the present separate opinion) propounds an essentially humanist outlook of the treatment of peoples under the law of nations, from a historical as well as a deontological perspective. I then proceed to an examination (in Part VII) eluded by the Court in the present Advisory Opinion of the grave concern expressed by the United Nations as a whole with the humanitarian tragedy in Kosovo. 3. After recalling the principle ex injuria jus non oritur, I move on to an examination (in Part IX) of the important aspect of the conditions of living of the population in Kosovo (as from 1989), on the basis of the submissions adduced by participants in the present advisory proceedings before the Court, in their written and oral phases. I also recall the judicial recognition, and further evidence, of the atrocities perpetrated in Kosovo (in the decade ), and ascribe a central position to the sufferings of the people, pursuant to the people-centered outlook in contemporary international law. I then turn to the consideration of territorial integrity in the framework of the humane ends of the State, to the overcoming of the inter-state paradigm in contemporary international law, to the overriding importance of the fundamental principles of humanity, and of equality and non-discrimination, and to a comprehensive conception of the incidence of jus cogens. The way will then be paved for the presentation of my final considerations. 126

4 526 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) II. CONSIDERATIONS ON PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS OF JURISDICTION AND JUDICIAL PROPRIETY 1. The Court s Jurisdiction, with Attention on the Preponderant Humanitarian Aspects 4. First of all, the Court s jurisdiction to deliver the present Advisory Opinion is, in my view, established beyond any doubt, on the basis of Article 65 (1) of its Statute, whereby the Court may give an advisory opinion on any legal question at the request of whatever body may be authorized by or in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations to make such a request. Such conditions have been acknowledged in the case law of the Court 1. It is for the ICJ, as master of its own jurisdiction, to satisfy itself that the request for an advisory opinion comes from an organ endowed with competence to make it; in the case of the General Assembly, it is so authorized by Article 96 (1) of the United Nations Charter, to request an advisory opinion of the ICJ on any legal question. In its case law, the Court has at times given indications as to the relationship between the object of the requests at issue and the activities of the General Assembly Article 10 of the United Nations Charter confers upon the General Assembly competence to deal with any questions or any matters within the scope of the Charter, and Article 11 (2) specifically endows it with competence to discuss questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security brought before it. The question put to the Court by General Assembly resolution 63/3, adopted on 8 October 2008, pertains to the scope of activities of the General Assembly, which, like the Security Council, has been dealing with the situation in Kosovo for over a decade (cf. infra) 3. The main point that may be raised here pertains to Article 12 (1) of the United Nations Charter, which states that [w]hile the Security Council is exercising in respect of any dispute or situation the functions assigned to it in the present Charter, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation with 1 Cf. e.g., Application for Review of Judgement No. 273 of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 333, para Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p.70;legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), pp , paras ; Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), pp. 145 and 148, paras. 16 and In respect of the situation in Kosovo, in addition to the main course of action taken up by the Security Council, the role of the General Assembly includes taking decisions with the advice of its Fifth Committee on the budget of UNMIK. The responsibilities of the Secretary-General include the support of the mandate of UNMIK. 127

5 527 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) regard to that dispute or situation unless the Security Council so requests. 6. In any case, a request for an advisory opinion is not in itself a recommendation by the General Assembly with regard to a dispute or situation. Under Article 24 of the Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security 4. Yet, Article 24 refers to a primary, but not necessarily exclusive, competence. The General Assembly does have the power, inter alia, under Article 14 of the United Nations Charter, to recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of various situations. The ICJ itself has lately pointed out 5, as to the interpretation of Article 12 of the United Nations Charter, that in recent years there has been an increasing tendency for the General Assembly and the Security Council to deal in parallel with the same matter concerning the maintenance of international peace and security: while the Security Council has tended to focus on the aspects of such matters related to international peace and security, the General Assembly has taken a broader view, considering also their humanitarian, social and economic aspects. 7. The General Assembly has developed the practice of making recommendations on issues which the Security Council has also been dealing with; United Nations Member States have not objected to such practice 6, nor has the Security Council opposed it. This has been the accepted practice of the General Assembly, as it has lately evolved, being consistent with Article 12 (1) of the United Nations Charter. By adopting, on 8 October 2008, resolution 63/3, seeking an advisory opinion from the ICJ relating to the declaration of independence by the authorities of Kosovo, the General Assembly has not acted ultra vires in respect of Article 12 (1) of the United Nations Charter: it was fully entitled to do so, in the faithful exercise of its functions under the United Nations Charter. 8. The remaining aspect concerning the Court s jurisdiction is whether the General Assembly s request relates to a legal question within the meaning of the United Nations Charter and the ICJ Statute. On this particular point, the ICJ has already indicated that questions framed in terms of law and raising problems of international law are by their very nature susceptible of a reply based on law and appear to be ques- 4 It can thus, in that regard, impose on States an explicit obligation of compliance if, for example, it issues an order or command under Chapter VII, and it can, to that end, require enforcement by coercive action ; cf. Certain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p Cf. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), pp , paras Cf. United Nations Juridical Yearbook (1964), pp. 228 and

6 528 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) tions of a legal character 7. It is immaterial if the legal question put to the Court, for the exercise of its advisory function, discloses also political aspects. It could hardly be doubted that the question submitted by the General Assembly to the ICJ for an advisory opinion is a legal one, relating as it is to the accordance with international law of the declaration of independence by the authorities of Kosovo. In its jurisprudence constante, the ICJ has clarified that a legal question may also reveal political aspects, as, in the nature of things, is the case with so many questions which arise in international life, does not suffice to deprive it of its character as a legal question and to deprive the Court of a competence expressly conferred on it by its Statute The ICJ has made it clear that it cannot attribute a political character to a request for an advisory opinion which invites it to undertake an essentially judicial task 9 concerning the scope of obligations imposed by international law 10, namely, an assessment of the legality of the possible conduct of States in respect of obligations imposed upon them by international law 11. Since the earlier years of the ICJ, it has been clarified that the old distinction between so-called legal and political questions does not stand, as there are no questions which, by their intrinsic nature, may be termed as essentially legal or political ; such qualifications pertain rather to the means of resolution of the questions at issue 12, whether legal (judicial), or otherwise. It is thus somewhat surprising to see this point being persistently raised before the ICJ throughout the years without consistency. 10. In the light of the aforementioned, it can be concluded that the present request by the General Assembly, by means of its resolution 63/3 of 8 October 2008, for an advisory opinion by the ICJ, fulfils the require- 7 Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 232, para Application for Review of Judgement No. 158 of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1973, p. 172, para. 14 ; Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 234, para Certain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), p. 155, para Cf. Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations (Article 4 of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, 1948, I.C.J. Reports , pp ; Competence of the General Assembly for the Admission of a State to the United Nations, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, pp. 6-7 ; Certain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p And cf. also Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 233, para. 13 ; Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March 1951 between the WHO and Egypt, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1980, p. 87, para Cf. M. Vaucher, Le problème de la justiciabilité et de la non-justiciabilité en droit international des différends dits politiques ou non-juridiques et les notions de compétence exclusive et de compétence nationale, Paris, Pedone, 1951, pp

7 529 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) ments of Article 96 (1) of the United Nations Charter and of Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, in respect of both the competence of the requesting organ (the General Assembly) and of the substance of the request, and discloses the nature of a legal question. This suffices to determine the issue of the Court s jurisdiction. Furthermore, there is no element raised in the course of the present advisory proceedings that could lead the Court to conclude otherwise. 11. Accordingly, I concur with the Court s view that it has jurisdiction to deliver the requested advisory opinion. This latter should be attentive to the broader view of the consideration of issues pursued by the General Assembly (cf. supra), focusing on the preponderant humanitarian aspects surrounding the conformity or otherwise with international law of the declaration of independence at issue. This requires a careful consideration by the Court of the factual complex of the request lodged with it (cf. infra), so as to avoid an aseptic reasoning in the Advisory Opinion. 12. This is an aspect in respect of which my reasoning differs from that of the Court. The consideration of the factual complex is of considerable importance, as declarations of independence are not proclaimed in a social vacuum, and require addressing at least its immediate causes. This is a point of far greater importance than the usual arguments concerning so-called judicial discretion, dealt at length by the Court in the present Advisory Opinion. This argument has been repeatedly raised before this Court, in its practice as to the exercise of its advisory jurisdiction. This point deserved no more than a brief review of the Court s jurisprudence constante on it, so as to concentrate attention on other points that are of far greater relevance, such as the factual background of the question put to the Court by the General Assembly. 2. Alleged Judicial Discretion and the Court s Duty to Exercise Its Advisory Function 13. The second line of considerations at this preliminary stage, pertaining to judicial discretion (rather than propriety), has been brought to the fore by certain arguments adduced by some participants, in the course of the present proceedings. Such arguments tried to persuade the Court that it should nevertheless decline, in the exercise of its discretionary power, to render the advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly, either because the request concerns matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a State (under Article 2 (7) of the United Nations Charter); or because the procedure was allegedly being used primarily to further the interests of individual States rather than that of the requesting organ; or because the Court s advisory opinion would lack any useful purpose; or because the Court s opinion would arguably have adverse effects on peace and security in the region; or because there is no 130

8 530 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) consent of Kosovo to the jurisdiction of the Court; or else because it would be allegedly politically inappropriate for the Court to deliver the advisory opinion. I find all these arguments wholly unconvincing. 14. To start with, the ICJ itself observed, in an Advisory Opinion delivered six decades ago, that Article 65 of its Statute gives it the power to examine whether the circumstances of the case are of such a character as should lead it to decline to answer the request 13 ; it further warned that the reply of the Court, itself an organ of the United Nations, represents its participation in the activities of the Organization, and, in principle, should not be refused 14. In accordance with its own jurisprudence constante, only compelling reasons could lead the ICJ to such refusal As to the argument of domestic jurisdiction (supra), already in the case of the Nationality Decrees Issued in Tunis and Morocco (1923), the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) pondered that [t]he question whether a certain matter is or is not solely within the jurisdiction of a State is an essentially relative question; it depends on the development of international relations (Advisory Opinion, 1923, P.C.I.J., Series B, No. 4, pp ). Ever since, in their constant practice, in the line of this obiter dictum of the PCIJ, both the United Nations main organs and United Nations Member States have themselves acknowledged the gradual erosion of the plea of domestic jurisdiction under the United Nations Charter. 16. This has also been reckoned in international legal writing on this particular point. Thus, it was pondered, 35 years ago, that the fact that a State raising an objection on the ground of domestic jurisdiction could not impede the inclusion of the matter into the agenda of the international organ seised of it and its discussion at international level, afforded evidence for the view that the reserved domain of States was already undergoing a continuing process of reduction. Domestic jurisdiction in this context becomes a residuum of discretionary authority left by interna- 13 Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p Ibid., p Judgments of the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO upon Complaints Made against Unesco, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1956, p.86;certain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p. 155 ; Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 27; Application for Review of Judgement No. 158 of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1973, p. 183 ; Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p.21;applicability of Article VI, Section 22, of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1989, p. 191 ; Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p

9 531 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) tional law within the reserved domain of States 16. Two decades later, it was reasserted that Article 2 (7) of the United Nations Charter was inapplicable in so far as the principle of self-determination was concerned, linked to the consideration of human rights issues, thus removed from the domain of domestic jurisdiction In fact, the ICJ itself has stated that [t]he purpose of the Court s advisory opinion is not to settle at least directly disputes between States, but to offer legal advice to the organs and institutions requesting the opinion 18. The United Nations practice with regard to Kosovo s humanitarian crisis illustrates the widespread agreement that the powers of the main United Nations organs (in particular the Security Council and the General Assembly) to initiate and undertake measures in order to secure the maintenance of international peace and security, are rather broad and cannot be restrained by pleas of domestic jurisdiction of individual States. This being so, the ICJ, as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (Article 92 of the United Nations Charter), cannot accept the plea of domestic jurisdiction as a reason to decline to exercise its advisory function, and this applies to the present request for an advisory opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo. 18. Another argument has been raised, by some participants in the present advisory proceedings, whereby the advisory procedure is allegedly being used primarily to further the interests of individual States rather than the concerns of the General Assembly as the requesting United Nations organ. A handful of participants further argued that, given the close voting in the adoption of resolution 63/3 of the General Assembly, the ICJ would have to be extremely careful in delivering the advisory opinion, if at all; in their view, extreme restraint was required from the ICJ. In my perception, these arguments beg the question. 19. All these considerations were to have been borne in mind in the course of the discussion of the draft resolution of the General Assembly 19, when all United Nations Member States had an opportunity to express their views in support or against the adoption of such draft resolution. The proposal for inclusion of the item in the agenda of the Gen- 16 A. A. Cançado Trindade, The Domestic Jurisdiction of States in the Practice of the United Nations and Regional Organisations, 25 International and Comparative Law Quarterly (1976), pp A. Cassese, Self-Determination of Peoples A Legal Reappraisal, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 174 et seq. 18 Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 236, para. 15 ; Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p UN doc. A/63/L.2.

10 532 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) eral Assembly was originally advanced by Serbia, and all United Nations Member States had a chance to make their views known in the consideration of this agenda item. The circumstances of the approval of the draft resolution in a rather close or divided voting are, in my view, immaterial. 20. Resolution 63/3 (2008) was adopted on behalf of the United Nations General Assembly, and not by only those States which voted in favour of it. This ensues from the international legal personality of the United Nations, which is endowed with a volonté of its own, surely distinct from the sum of volontés of its Member States, or of some of them (those which vote in favour of a resolution of one of its main organs). In the cas d espèce, United Nations Member States considered the matter in the General Assembly, and this latter, as one the main organs of the United Nations, decided to make of the issue of Kosovo s declaration of independence one of United Nations concern. 21. The ICJ should thus proceed with care as it of course did but without feeling inhibited to deliver the present Advisory Opinion. It is not for the Court to dwell upon the circumstances of the political debate prior to the adoption of General Assembly resolution 63/3 (2008). The ICJ itself has warned that the opinion of the Court is given not to States, but to the organ which is entitled to request it 20. The international community expects that the Court act at the height of the responsibilities incumbent upon it, without succumbing to apprehensions or fears, in face of apparent sensitivities of some States. It is incumbent upon the Court to say what the law is (juris dictio) In any case, it is for the Court itself to assess the consequences of its decision to deliver an advisory opinion, bearing in mind that it cannot at all abstain itself from the exercise of its advisory function of saying what the law is (juris dictio). After all, the ICJ itself pointed out, six decades ago, that, to provide a proper answer to a request for an advisory 20 Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p The ICJ has, on various occasions, pointed out that it may give an advisory opinion on any legal question, abstract or otherwise. Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations (Article 4 of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, 1948, I.C.J. Reports , p.61;effect of Awards of Compensation Made by the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1954, p.51;legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 27, para. 40 ; Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 234, para. 14 ; Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), p. 154, para

11 533 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) opinion represents its participation in the activities of the Organization, and, in principle, should not be refused Accordingly, the argument of a couple of participants in the present advisory proceedings to the effect that the Court s advisory opinion would lack a useful purpose, appears to me wholly unfounded. The same applies to the alleged lack of practical effect of the Court s opinion: this allegation simply begs the question. The Court s jurisprudence constante on the point at issue could be recalled in this connection 23.Inthe cas d espèce, it is the task of the Court to provide an opinion on the question of the accordance with international law of Kosovo s declaration of independence; and it is for the General Assembly to draw its own conclusions, from the Court s opinion, and to apply them to its further treatment of the situation in Kosovo. In proceeding in this way, the ICJ is contributing to the rule of law at international level, which, ever since the 2005 United Nations World Summit, has been attracting increasing interest and attention, and since 2006 has become an important agenda item ( The Rule of Law at the National and International Levels ) of the United Nations General Assembly The next argument, with an apparent bearing on judicial discretion or propriety, whereby the Court s opinion would arguably have adverse effects on peace and security in the region, likewise begs the question. There is nothing new under the sun, and the Court itself has already answered arguments of the kind in previous Advisory Opinions. For instance, in its Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (1996), the ICJ stated: Ithas...beensubmittedthatareplyfromtheCourtinthiscase might adversely affect disarmament negotiations and would there- 22 Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p Thus, in its Advisory Opinion on the Western Sahara (I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 12), the ICJ pondered that nothing in the UN Charter, or in its Statute, limited the competence of the General Assembly to request an advisory opinion, or that of its own to give an opinion, on legal questions relating to existing rights or obligations (ibid., p. 19, para. 18). The opinion would provide the General Assembly with elements of a legal character relevant to its further treatment of the subject-matter at issue (ibid., p. 37, para. 72). Earlier on, in its Advisory Opinion on Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (I.C.J. Reports 1951, p. 15), the ICJ observed that the object of that request for an opinion was to guide the United Nations in respect of its own action (ibid., p. 19). And half a decade ago, the ICJ stressed, as it clearly ensued from its jurisprudence constante, that Advisory Opinions have the purpose of furnishing to the requesting organs the elements of law necessary for them in their action ; Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), p. 162, para Cf. UN General Assembly resolution 61/39, of 18 December 2006 ; UN resolution 62/ 70, of 6 December 2007 ; UN resolution 63/128, of 11 December 2008 ; UN resolution 64/ 116, of 16 December

12 534 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) fore, be contrary to the interest of the United Nations. The Court is aware that, no matter what might be its conclusions in any Opinion it might give, they would have relevance for the continuing debate on the matter in the General Assembly and would present an additional element in the negotiations on the matter. Beyond that, the effect of the Opinion is a matter of appreciation. (I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 237, para. 17.) It is not the Court s business to speculate on eventual effects of its Advisory Opinions; in my view, it is rather for the Court to contribute, in the faithful exercise of its advisory function, to the prevalence of the rule of law in the conduction of international relations. This may well assist in reducing the tension and the political controversy in the region at issue. In the more distant past, there was a trend of opinion that favoured wide discretion on the part of the Hague Court to deliver an advisory opinion or not; it was followed by another trend of opinion which accepted that discretion, but only exceptionally and in face of compelling reasons (raisons décisives). A more enlightened trend of opinion discards discretion, accepting only inadmissibility to protect judicial integrity The Court seems to have indulged in unnecessary confusion in paragraph 29 of the present Advisory Opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, in regrettably admitting to self-limit its advisory function, and in ascribing to so-called discretion a dimension that it does not have. It has confused discretion with judicial propriety, and it has failed to stress the proactive posture that it has rightly adopted in the United Nations era, in the exercise of its advisory function, as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (Article 92 of the United Nations Charter), and as the ultimate guardian of the prevalence of the rule of law in the conduct of international relations 27. By the same token, it is somewhat disquieting to find, in the unfortunate language of 25 Cf. also Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 37, para Cf. R. Kolb, De la prétendue discrétion de la Cour internationale de Justice de refuser de donner un avis consultatif, in The International Legal System in Quest of Equity and Universality Liber Amicorum G. Abi-Saab (eds. L. Boisson de Chazournes and V. Gowlland-Debbas), The Hague, Nijhoff, 2001, pp , and cf. pp In its Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2004), the ICJ recalled that 135 [t]he present Court has never, in the exercise of this discretionary power, declined to respond to a request for an advisory opinion... Only on one occasion did the Court s predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice, take the view that it should not reply to a question put to it (Status of Eastern Carelia, Advisory Opinion, 1923, P.C.I.J., Series B, No. 5). (I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), pp , para. 44.)

13 535 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) paragraph 29, that the ghost of Eastern Carelia seems, like phoenix, to have arisen from the ashes The Court s advisory function is not a simple faculty that it may utilize at its free discretion: it is a function, of the utmost importance ultimately for the international community as a whole, of the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Discretion is for a political organ, like the General Assembly or the Security Council, to exercise, also when deciding to request an advisory opinion to the ICJ. This latter, when seised of a matter either a request for an advisory opinion, or a contentious case has a duty to perform faithfully its judicial functions, either in advisory matters or in respect of contentious cases. It is not for the Court to indulge in an appreciation of the opportunity of an advisory opinion, and it is surprising to me that the Court should dispense so much attention to this issue in the present Advisory Opinion (paras ), to the point of singling out technicalities (in paragraphs 36 and 39, as to the respective roles and faculties of the Security Council and the General Assembly) and of eluding a careful consideration of the factual background (cf. infra) ofthegrave humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, brought to its attention by several participants in the course of the written and oral phases of the present advisory proceedings. 28. After all, ours is the age of the reassuring multiplication of international tribunals, bearing witness of the acknowledgement of the primacy of law over force. Ours is the age of the jurisdictionalization of international law and relations, bearing witness of the improvements in the modalities of peaceful settlement of disputes. Ours is the age of the expansion of international jurisdiction, bearing witness to the advances of the idea of an objective justice. Ours is the age of an ever-increasing attention to the advances of the rule of law at both national and international levels, a cause which the United Nations as a whole is now committed to, particularly from 2006 onwards (cf. supra). To invoke and to insist on discretion rather discretionally seems to me to overlook, if not to try to obstruct, the course of evolution of the judicial function in contemporary international law. The awareness of the contemporary and reassuring phenomenon of jurisdictionalization has fortunately prevailed at the end over undue politicization, underlining certain arguments examined by the Court, which should have been promptly discarded by it. 29. Turning to another related aspect, it seems furthermore clear to me that the ICJ is fully entitled, if it so deems fit, to reformulate the question put to it by the request for an advisory opinion, so as to give it more clarity. Thus, the alleged lack of clarity or certainty in the drafting of a question cannot be invoked so as to deprive the Court of its jurisdiction. Quite on the contrary, any uncertainty may require clarification or rephrasing by the Court itself. In fact, over the decades, both the PCIJ 136

14 536 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) and the ICJ have repeatedly observed that the wording of a request for an advisory opinion did not accurately state the question of which the Court s opinion was being sought 28, or else did not correspond to the true legal question under consideration 29. In one particular instance, the ICJ noted that the question put to it was, on the face of it, at once infelicitously expressed and vague Consequently, the Court has often been required to broaden, interpret and even reformulate the questions put 31 ; and it has accordingly deemed it fit to identify the existing principles and rules, to interpret them and to apply them, thus offering a reply to the question posed based on law 32. This disposes of the wholly unconvincing if not inappropriate argument that it would allegedly be politically inappropriate for the ICJ to deliver the present Advisory Opinion. Such an argument should simply not be raised before the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (Article 92 of the United Nations Charter), which cannot attribute a political character to a request which is supposed to invite it to undertake an essentially judicial task 33. The ICJ itself has pondered, in this respect, that in situations in which political considerations are prominent, it may be particularly necessary for an international organization to obtain an advisory opinion from the Court as to the legal principles applicable with respect to the matter under debate Yet, another argument of the kind has been raised in the course of the present advisory proceedings, namely, the lack of consent of Kosovo to the jurisdiction of the Court, allegedly affecting this latter as a matter of judicial propriety: the allegation was that the ICJ should refrain from exercising its jurisdiction in the cas d espèce, because the General Assembly request concerns arguably a bilateral dispute between Kosovo and Serbia in respect of which Kosovo has not consented to the exercise of 28 Cf. e.g., Interpretation of the Greco-Turkish Agreement of 1 December 1926 (Final Protocol, Article IV), Advisory Opinion, 1928, P.C.I.J., Series B, No. 16, pp Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March 1951 between the WHO and Egypt, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1980, pp , paras Application for Review of Judgement No. 273 of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 348, para Cf. in addition to the aforementioned three Advisory Opinions, also Admissibility of Hearings of Petitioners by the Committee on South West Africa, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1956, p.25;andcertain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, pp Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996 (I), p. 233, para. 13 ; Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), p. 153, para Certain Expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March 1951 between the WHO and Egypt, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1980, p. 87, para

15 537 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) that jurisdiction. This argument also appears, in my view, unpersuasive and groundless. 32. As is widely known, consent is a precondition for the exercise of the Court s contentious, not advisory, function. And it could not be otherwise, as advisory opinions are intended for the orientation or guidance of the United Nations and its organs. The ICJ itself has clarified this aspect, six decades ago, in its celebrated Advisory Opinion on the Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase (1950); in its own words, The consent of States, parties to a dispute, is the basis of the Court s jurisdiction in contentious cases. The situation is different in regard to advisory proceedings even where the Request for an Opinion relates to a legal question actually pending between States. The Court s reply is only of an advisory character: as such, it has no binding force. It follows that no State, whether a Member of the United Nations or not, can prevent the giving of an advisory opinion which the United Nations considers to be desirable in order to obtain enlightenment as to the course of action it should take. The Court s Opinion is given not to the States, but to the organ which is entitled to request it; the reply of the Court..., in principle, should not be refused. 35 (I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 71.) In the present instance, the object of the request for an advisory opinion of the ICJ is to enlighten the General Assembly as to the accordance, or otherwise, with international law, of the declaration of independence of Kosovo by its authorities. 33. It should, furthermore, be kept in mind that, whilst the prior consent of States has always been a hurdle to the exercise of the ICJ s function in settling contentious cases, the opposite occurs in the exercise of its advisory function: it is not at all conditioned by the prior consent of States. Here, the ICJ has a means not only to clarify the questions submitted to it for advisory opinions, but also to contribute thereby to the progressive development of international law. Three remarkable examples to this effect lie in its ground-breaking Advisory Opinions in Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, of 1949; in Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 35 The ICJ followed this same reasoning, half a decade ago, in its previous Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2004). The Court, after examining the opposition of certain interested States to the request by the General Assembly for an advisory opinion on the subject-matter at issue, in the context of issues of judicial propriety, pondered that: The object of the request before the Court is to obtain from the Court an opinion which the General Assembly deems of assistance to it for the proper exercise of its functions. The opinion is requested on a question which is of particularly acute concern to the United Nations, and one which is located in a much broader frame of reference than a bilateral dispute. (I.C.J. Reports 2004 (I), p. 159, para. 50.) 138

16 538 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) Crime of Genocide, of 1951; and in Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), of In sum and conclusion on the preliminary question under consideration, none of the arguments raised in the course of the present advisory proceedings, to try to persuade the ICJ to inhibit itself and to refrain from performing its advisory function in relation to the declaration of independence of Kosovo by its authorities, resists a closer examination. The Court s jurisdiction is fully established in the present matter (cf. supra), and there is no compelling reason for the Court not to exercise it. There is not much else to be clarified in this respect. My conclusion on this point is that it is not at all for the Court to act discretionally ; the Court has to perform its advisory function, and ought to deliver, as it has just done, the requested Advisory Opinion, thus fulfilling faithfully its duties as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. In turn, the Court should have, to my understanding, devoted much more attention than it has done, in the present Advisory Opinion, to the factual context in particular the factual background of the matter at issue. III. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE QUESTION PUT TO THE COURT 35. In the present Advisory Opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, the Court pursued a minimalist approach to the factual background of the question put to it by the General Assembly, concentrating its attention on Kosovo s declaration of independence of 17 February 2008, and making abstraction of its causes, lying in the tragic succession of facts of the prolonged and grave humanitarian crisis of Kosovo, which culminated in the adoption of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). As a Member of the Court, I feel obliged to examine that factual background in the present separate opinion, given the fact that the Court appears not to have found it necessary to do so, namely, to consider carefully Kosovo s grave humanitarian crisis. This issue, to which I attach great relevance, was, after all, brought repeatedly to the attention of the Court, in the course of the present advisory proceedings, by several participants, in both the written and oral phases. Perhaps the Court, like humankind, cannot bear very much reality To paraphrase Thomas Becket s soliloquy in Canterbury, his premonition in face of

17 539 UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (SEP. OP. CANÇADO TRINDADE) 36. In addressing, accordingly, the factual background and the context of the issue submitted by the General Assembly s request to the Court for the present Advisory Opinion, may I draw attention to the fact that, on previous occasions, somewhat distinctly, the ICJ deemed it fit to dwell carefully on the whole range of facts which led to the issues brought to its cognizance for the purpose of the requested advisory opinions. Thus, in its célèbre Advisory Opinion of 1971 on the Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), the ICJ stated that: It is undisputed, and is amply supported by documents annexed to South Africa s written statement in these proceedings, that the official governmental policy pursued by South Africa in Namibia is to achieve a complete physical separation of races and ethnic groups in separate areas within the Territory. The application of this policy has required, as has been conceded by South Africa, restrictive measures of control officially adopted and enforced in the Territory by the coercive power of the former Mandatory. These measures establish limitations, exclusions or restrictions for the members of the indigenous population groups in respect of their participation in certain types of activities, fields of study or of training, labour or employment and also submit them to restrictions or exclusions of residence and movement in large parts of the Territory. Under the Charter of the United Nations, the former Mandatory has pledged itself to observe and respect, in a territory having an international status, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race. To establish instead, and to enforce, distinctions, exclusions, restrictions and limitations exclusively based on grounds of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin which constitute a denial of fundamental human rights is a flagrant violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter. (I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 57, paras ) 37. Likewise, in its Advisory Opinion of 1975 on the Western Sahara, the ICJ examined the matter submitted to its cognizance in the context of such a territory and such a social and political organization of the population (I.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 42, para. 89), which led it to a detailed factual examination (ibid., pp , paras ). And, once again, in its Advisory Opinion of 2004 on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, before the imminence of his sacrifice ; cf. T. S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral (1935), in The Complete Poems and Plays , New York/London, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1980 (reprint), pp